Association of Chief Police Officers

The Association of Chief Police Officers Of England, Wales and Northern Ireland is a membership body made up largely of senior police officers. Although not a public body, it exercises an important strategic role in policing.
NETCU, NPOIU (of which the CIU is a section) and NDET are the three units answering to ACPO.[1]

Role

In the public interest and, in equal and active partnership with Government and the Association of Police Authorities, ACPO leads and coordinates the direction and development of the police service in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In times of national need ACPO - on behalf of all chief officers - coordinates the strategic policing response.[3]

Structure

ACPO describes itself as "an independent, professionally led strategic body."[4] It operates as a private company limited by guarantee, governed by a board of directors.[5]

This status has given rise to some criticism given the Association's strategic role. For example, the Guardian's Henry Porter has written:

despite its important role in drafting and implementing policies that affect the fundamental freedoms of this country, ACPO is protected from freedom of information requests and its proceedings remain largely hidden from public view. In reality ACPO is no more troubled by public scrutiny than the freemasons.[6]

NETCU, NPOIU (of which the CIU is a section) and NDET are the three units answering to ACPO. These three "domestic extremism" units are working under the direction of Detective Chief Superintendent Adrian Tudway. As the "national co-ordinator for domestic extremism" he commands about 100 staff and has a budget of about £9m a year.[1]

Future of ACPO

following reviews within ACPO TAM and a HMIC Value for Money Review, it was agreed by the ACPO TAM board to merge the three Domestic Extremism units into single national function under a lead force.[7]

The three "domestic-extremism' units in question are NPOIU, NETCU and NDET. They currently answer to ACPO.[1]

The National Co-ordinator for Domestic Extremism, Detective Chief Superintendent Adrian Tudway, who is currently managing the merger said "The three domestic extremism units were set up at different times during a six year period, with the current economic climate and the need to maximise resources it makes sense to merge."

An article in The Guardian on the three "domestic extremism" units working under the direction of Detective Chief Superintendent Adrian Tudway states that

concerns have been growing about the accountability and subject to agreement they will be taken over by the Met under a "lead force" agreement – the same way the Met has overall command of national counter-terrorism operations.[1]

Membership

ACPO describes its membership as follows:

ACPO's members are police officers who hold the rank of Chief Constable, Deputy Chief Constable or Assistant Chief Constable, or their equivalents, in the forty four forces of England, Wales and Northern Ireland, national police agencies and certain other forces in the UK, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, and certain senior non-police staff. There are presently 280 members of ACPO.[8]

Funding and finances

According to its website, ACPO is funded "by a combination of a Home Office grant, contributions from each of the 44 Police Authorities, membership subscriptions and by the proceeds of its annual exhibition."[9]

A Mail on Sunday investigation in February 2009 claimed that the organisation has an £18 million annual income. Of this £15 million came from project work for the Home Office and Police.[10]

An independent affiliate of ACPO, the firm also provides expert witnesses to combat ‘loophole’ lawyers attempting to beat speeding offences. It also provides training to speed camera operators.

The chairman of RSS is Meredydd Hughes, Chief Constable of South Yorkshire. He was formerly the chairman of ACPO’s roads policing group but stood down following a driving ban after being caught on camera speeding at 90mph.[10]

According to the Mail, Shami Chakrabarti of Liberty criticised ACPO's lack of accountability and suggested its growing commercial activities could be illegal.[10]